The pharma industry associations in a fresh bid to revive the almost given up proposal of Pharmexcil, plans to ask the Ministry of Commerce to waive of its condition for creating a corpus of Rs.3 crore. This new move by the industry Associations is at the backdrop of the ministry's insistence on meeting the conditions within three months in the provisional approval for formation of the Council issued last week and also due to Associations' lack of confidence in raising the fund from the industry within the stipulated period.

Yogin Majmudar, president, Indian Drug Manufacturers Association, while speaking to Pharmabiz asked that if the government can allow such industry specific institutions to be formed without mandatory corpus, why they should not apply the same to Pharmexcil as well. "So, as a meaningful option, we would try to persuade the government to do away with this condition. The IDMA president said that the Association along with OPPI and BDMA will represent to the government with this request soon."

The commerce ministry has in its latest response on July 11, to the joint representation from the three industry Associations to form a separate export promotion council with the head quarters at Mumbai and regional office at Hyderabad, had granted the provisional approval to the same. However, the approval was subject to the condition that all formalities including the creation of a corpus of Rs 3 crore and registration of the new EPC within a period of three months from the date of receipt of the letter.

It may be recalled that the proposal to for form of a separate export promotion council for drugs and pharmaceuticals had almost become elusive as the industry associations could not raise the Rs 3 crore initial corpus. According to industry sources, there were only assurances of part funding from several quarters. And they are just hoping to see the Council as a reality in near future.

It was the lack of consensus between the Indian Drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA) and Bulk Drug Manufacturers Association (BDMA) on the location of the headquarters that slowed down the process initially. Now the main hurdle in forming the Council is the funds crunch.

The initiative is totally industry driven and the governments of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, which had vied for the headquarters of the council in respective state capitals, do not have an active role in the fund raising programme. The 10 acres of land and Rs 3 crore promised by the government of AP cannot be utilized for the purpose now, as it was valid only if Hyderabad was chosen as the headquarters of the Pharmexcil. The token amount of Rs 5 lakh offered by the government of Maharashtra is not going to be of substantial help either.

In the meanwhile, the Gujarat state pharmaceutical industry under the agies of the state chapter of IDMA has also come forward to take the proposal as the local industry is confident of having the support of the state government. However, this would be possible only if there is consensus among the Associations to make the Council's head quarters in Ahmedabad or Gandhinagar.

The formation of Pharmexcil has been a long-standing demand of the associations like IDMA, BDMA, Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA) and the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI). Accepting the demand from the industry, the government cleared the decks for the council last year on the condition that the industry should raise the initial corpus for the establishment of Pharmexcil. The Ministry had asked the associations to suggest a location and also forward a corpus amount of Rs three crore towards the setting up of the council.